Local women taking aim on personal safety

Detective Rick Baker instructs Casey Trainham on shooting her firearm at the target.

Excitement and laughter filled the air as 20 women gathered at the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office firing range on Saturday, March 16 to complete the firing range portion of the class for their concealed weapons permit.

The firearm safety course is taught by Detective Richard Baker of the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office.

“I have seen a tremendous spike in the female interest in the class,” Baker said. “No classes have been under 16 in the past years.”

Baker believes rising interest is due to several issues including personal safety, increasing crime rates and practicing of their second amendment rights.

Before students began target practice, there was a discussion regarding gun control. According to Baker,1.5 million people are killed each year in traffic accidents, but people are not blaming the cars, just the people who drive them.

According to Baker a gun could sit for 100,000 years and never hurt a soul, but if you use it to hurt someone, they blame the gun, not the person who used it. Now, he said, they want to take guns away. Agreement echoed throughout the group.

One student brought up a case where a woman killed her husband with a frozen turkey and said, “Are they going to take our frozen turkey away?” Laughter bubbled from all the women.

Before going down the range, Baker went over firearm safety rules previously taught in the class portion of the course.

The most basic safety rule is to always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Never point your weapon at anything you do not intend to shoot.

Firearms should only be loaded when you are in the field, on the target range or shooting area, and are ready to shoot. Baker explained, when not in use, firearms and ammunition should be secured in a safe place, separate from one another.

To read the entire story, see the March 21 edition of The Central Virginian.